Fatal Assumption
by Cheerfulbunny
Summary: When Derek found a drunk Leslie in the on-call room, he would never had predicted the events to follow. Neither did Angie, who walked into the room at the worst time possible. The fight that followed puts Derek into danger, Angie into distress, and the world that they knew into peril. Character Death Oneshot.
1. Frozen Heart

~~~~~Author's Notes~~~~~

Dedicated to Indochine, Traumateamgirl, Cypruseyes, , and Orwelliswatching-xoxo.

Why? FOR BEING AWESOME REVIEWERS! Thanks for reviewing :)  
(11-9: I performed a hasty revision to accomodate my BONUS CHAPTER)

* * *

"Please, Angie…" Derek pleaded.  
"What else do you WANT?! What else can you TAKE?!" Angie yelled at Derek, fire burning in her eyes. She was ready to kill after what she had just been through.

Oh, yes. Murder, the ultimate crime of passion.

She had caught him. He had been making out with her best friend (now ex-best friend) Leslie.  
Why?! Had everything they gone through been a lie?

Apparently, it had. Because the moment she had walked into Caduceus' on-call room and seen what was going on, her life had shattered. She desperately wanted to put everything back together. To forgive and forget. But she just wasn't that type of person…

Derek was slowly becoming frustrated. He understood what Angie thought had happened, but she didn't know the truth.  
"Angie...let me explain…"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT!" Angie screamed. "I caught you! Your hand was in her shirt, Derek!"  
Derek wouldn't give up, despite the circumstances. "Angie, you don't understand…"  
"Oh, really? Then why don't you explain? EXACTLY WHAT DON'T I UNDERSTAND?"

"If you would stop screaming and just listen..." Derek pleaded, tired."NO, YOU LISTEN TO ME!" GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!"  
Angie gave a firm shove, knocking Derek backwards, outside of the house (breaking the rusty lock), and down the stairs. She slammed the door on him, which rattled eerily in its hinges.

What she had missed...and wouldn't notice until a week after...was Derek's blood on the stairs…

Derek stared at the snow, lying on his back. Blood gushed out of a large laceration in the back of his head, exposing a portion of his shattered skull. Strangely enough, though the icy powder should have been excruciating on his wound, he felt nothing.

A tear slid down his face. She hadn't listened to him. She didn't know what happened…

_"Hey, Derek!" Leslie chirped, seeming unusually happy today.  
__She was normally happy, but today, it seemed as if she was high on something. __Shouldn't she be at home?_

_"Guess what, Derek?"  
__"What, Leslie?"_

_"I drank a WHOLEEE bottle of liquor with Tyler. He couldn't even drink a glass before passing out." Leslie giggled and burped._

_Derek was amazed. That was a lot of liquor, considering the strength of the alcohol that they normally shared. She shouldn't be at work today, or else she could mess up something badly. After all, being a nurse to someone like Tyler wasn't something to joke about. He realized that he was the only one, besides her, at Caduceus at the time. And that he was now responsible for her safety, whether she liked it or not._

_"And now I have to show you something, Doctor Stilesss…"  
__"What is it?"_

_Derek realized that he would have to take her home. He was about to call Tyler to find out where she lived, or better yet, get him to take her home, when…  
__Her face was on his. She was all over him with her hands and mouth._

_"Leslie, get off of me!"_

_"Nooo wayyy…" She burped again and laughed hysterically. She covered his hand with her mouth. __Derek tried to cut off her supply of oxygen by squeezing her neck, hoping to knock her unconscious long enough for him to escape._

_She pinned his hands down. __As much as Derek hated to admit it, she was a lot stronger then him. He cursed in annoyance._

_Her hand slipped into the waistband of his scrubs, and started to do very inappropriate things to him. __As good as it physically felt, there was an ache in his chest._

**_"I can't do this with her…"_**

_She was still pinning him down. Derek doubted that there was any physical force that he could use to get her off of him. He was almost resigned to suffering when he remembered something. _**_"The Healing Touch…"_**

_Of course. If he was four times faster then she was, he could make an escape._

**_"But how…?"_**

_Derek realized he needed to trace a star. But he couldn't do that with his hands pinned down. He realized that the only way he could get free was to make a move back, and that way, she would let him move a little. _**_"You can't be serious…"_**

_It was the only way… __Derek tried moving his hand up her arm, and she let him go as she giggled. His hand slipped near her collarbone. Perfect._

_He started to trace a star when…_

_"What the hell, Derek?" Angie asked._

**_"Oh...shit…"_**

_Derek realized that he was in a seriously bad position right now, and needed to say something in his defense. But…_

_"You know what, you can fuck her all you like, Derek. I really don't care." Angie snapped, tears in her eyes. She fought to control them, Derek could see that much. He needed to say something NOW._

_"Wait, Angie, you don't understand…" __But she was already gone._

_Leslie was laughing hysterically. Derek finished drawing the start and time slowed down. He rolled out under her, and started to run after Angie.  
__He saw her running down the stairs in slow motion. He was just a step away when his Healing Touch ran out._

_As much as he hated to admit it, Angie was a lot faster then he was._

**_"Seriously, what the hell?!" _**_Derek tracked her down to her house while trying her phone. She didn't answer it._

_She reached her house, and slammed the door. Derek tried the door anyways. It was locked. But he saw her window...and it was open. __He climbed in, and saw Angie. The first thing he registered was her face. Her eyes were red, and tears streamed down her cheeks._

_"What the hell, Derek?! Get out!"_

_"Wait, Angie, you don't understand!"  
__"What don't I understand?!"_

_"Please, list-"_

_"No. I won't. It's over. Get out of my house."_

* * *

And all of that had let to him lying in the snow, blood pooling under him, staining the snow a bright red. No one saw him.

_"Angie…I love you…I wished that you listened to me..."_

Snow began to pile on his face.

"If only…" Derek managed.

"In another world, in another time…"

"We could love each other without distractions…"

He tried to get up, to go back to Angie, and try and...what exactly? She refused to listen to him.

He couldn't move.

It was so cold. And dark.

Snow covered his face as the tears turned to crystal ice.

_"I'm going to die alone…"_

"Goodbye…Angie..." Derek murmured. The last words of his life, cut short.

Derek's eyes closed. A single puff of air blew out of his mouth in what would be the last second of his life. Then nothing.

* * *

Angie felt a bolt of pain as a surge of grief tore through her body.

_"What's going on?!"_

Blurry screens swirled around her body.

Memories.

_"Hey, Angie. I'm Derek Stiles. Nice to meet you."_

_"Hello."_

**_"So I've really been assigned to this inexperienced slacker…?"_**

_"You don't deserve to be here! You... you're not a real doctor!"_

_"…"_

_"The patient…He was suffering cardiac arrest, and…and…I couldn't resuscitate him! The other nurses are busy, and…with Dr. Kasal gone, I can't…Wh-what am I supposed to do? The patient's going to die! But, I can't…I can't even…"_

_"Calm down, Angie! Take me to the O.R."_

_"I froze, and all I could think about was running away. But, you didn't worry at all. You stood your ground, and did what needed to be done. You…you are a real doctor."_

_"I want him to believe in you the same way I do."_

**_"I can't believe it…Dr. Stiles is incredible."_**

_"This won't mean much now, but I knew you could do it."_

_"Dr. Stiles...you were really amazing!"_

_"I didn't cry. Yesterday, you said I was much stronger than you, so I forced myself not to cry. I'm your assistant, Dr. Stiles. And, an assistant has to support her doctor. Thank you for allowing me to see my father again."_

_"But, why would you want to hide your tears from him? You think he doesn't already know? The man deserves to see how you feel."_

_"…Angie…You're not… jealous, are you?"_

_"Good heavens, NO! Geez!"_

_"Wh-what are you talking about…?"_

_"Oh come on, don't play dumb. I mean you and Angie. It's really about time you cleared_

_things up for everyone…"_

_"C-Come on, knock it off…"_

_"Are you blushing, Derek? Oooh, so it's true then?"_

_"Of course not! That would NEVER EVER happen!"_

_"Whoa…DENIED!"_

_"First of all, Dr. Stiles has had his head in the clouds lately! Being called a master surgeon,getting pampered and praised by everyone around him…! Even making media interviews and this ridiculous partnership with Acropolis his first priority! Have You forgotten what's most important about your job,Dr. Stiles!? For us to…to…! That would NEVER happen!"_

_"Angie…!?"_

_"What do you expect!? You haven't been acting like a professional at all lately! We're dealing with people's_

_LIVES, here! Don't ever forget that!_

_"…"_

_"That's why… That's why I've been giving you such a hard time! It can't be helped that your skill has made you a famous doctor. But my greatest fear, what I worried about the most…was that it would change you!And that fear has come true…You're no longer the Dr. Stiles I'd grown to respect!_

_"…"_

_"Why…? Why won't You even try to save him…!?"_

_"…!"_

_"It doesn't matter whether or not it's possible. Right now, I just have to hope it is. You've given every patient you've ever operated on 100% of your effort…So, please…! There's no one I trust more than you! Please save him, Doctor…!"_

_"Save my dad!"_

_"I'm sorry I hesitated, Angie. But I'm not going to let you suffer anymore. I'll…No, we're going to do everything we can!"_

_"…Hey, Angie…Are you and Dr. Stiles…OK?"_

_"Um, I-I have no idea what you're talking about…"_

_(smirk)_

_"Wh-What…!?"_

_"Oh, it's nothing."_

_Dr. Stiles... It scares me to think about being implanted with GUILT… But... What's really getting to me, is that my body will be used to help create it...I became a nurse to treat people suffering from diseases like GUILT, not harm them..._

_"Angie…"_

_"Come on, we can't give up hope yet. That's exactly what they want us to do. If they do infect you, I'll surgically remove it. I promise. And I won't let anyone else fall victim to GUILT, either-for as long as I live."_

_"...You're right. I shouldn't panic. The world's greatest surgeon is right here beside me. I'm sorry... I'm OK now."_

_"Yeah, don't worry, Angie! I'll... I'll protect you!"_

_(smile) "I know you will, Doctor."_

_"Dr. Stiles, you've always worked hard to make sure other people are happy…But…don't forget, you deserve a little piece of that happiness too."_

_"...?"_

_"...And I'll make sure the girl who's always at your side takes that advice too."_

_"Angie…"_

_"There are patients that need to be treated. Though the life as a doctor with the Healing Touch will be filled with hardships..._

_Derek continues on that path with the smiles of the patients and his friends at Caduceus who share the same aspirations as him...and also with the support of his loved one at his side…"_

_"I love you, Derek."_

_"I love you too, Angie."_

_First kiss._

_A touch._

_"There isn't anything better than doing what you love with who you love."_

_"There is one thing better…"_

_"What's that?"_

_"I'll show you."_

_Kisses._

_Touches._

_Happiness._

_Relief._

_Tears._

_"I'm sorry, Angie…"_

_"Don't die, Derek. Please…"_

_"I won't…I promise..."_

All the promises that had been broken...the dreams that had been torn apart.

What had happened...Why?

Angie's last thoughts were of Derek's smiling face, looking down at her.

_"Angie...wake up..."_

* * *

Angie woke up as light started to shine in through the window.

_"What…happened?"  
__"Where's Derek?"  
__"Forget Derek." She internally warred with her better side.  
__"Hey, you kicked him out in the middle of a blizzard. At least check if he's okay."  
__"Why should I? He's probably fine, and real warm with Leslie, too."  
__"…"  
__"…"  
__"…"  
__"…What?!"  
__"You still love him, don't you?"  
__"After what he did to me?! He can go and fuck himself for all I care."  
__"…"  
__"I should go talk to Leslie."  
__"No, you shouldn't. You have work."  
__"And what work is that? I have a day off."  
__"To check on Derek."  
__"Shut up…"  
__"Go."  
__"Fine."_

Angie went into her car, and drove to Derek's apartment, stepping over the small bump in the snow. It was still snowing.

She didn't notice that her door was so weak, a simple spring breeze could have bowled it over.

* * *

At his apartment, she asked the lady at the desk who she was looking for. She shuffled some papers in her desk, and handed Angie a piece of paper.

"What's this?"  
"This is Mr. Stiles' lease, which was canceled a few days ago."  
"Oh…I see…"  
'_"Why would he cancel his lease…?"  
_She left, and went to Leslie's house.  
_"Someone is going to pay for this…"_

* * *

"Heyyy, Angie!"  
"_Is she…drunk?"_

"Who were you with at Caduceus yesterday?"  
"Caduceus? What's that…?" Leslie giggled.

_"She isn't even lucid…"_

Angie remembered that Leslie had been acting strangely when she caught her with Derek.

_"Could she have been…drunk?"  
__"Oh, shut up."_

_"It's a FACT, moron."  
__"So Leslie was drunk. So what?"_

_"Come to think of it…"_

"Leslie, is Derek with you today?"  
"Helll no…He's probably with Angie…" Leslie chirped helpfully.

_"The symptoms of intoxication include lack of coordination and judgment, as well as mood swings."  
__"I'm a nurse, you know. I KNOW that. So what?!"_

_"Maybe she couldn't control herself when Derek was with her…"  
__"HIS hand was moving in HER damn shirt."_

_"Against his will, perhaps? Do you think that he would willingly do something like that? Derek? He isn't that kind of person."  
__"…"_

_"Look at her neck!"  
_Angie looked at Leslie's neck, and gasped.

There were 2 red hand marks. Derek's hand marks!

_"This proves he fought against her."_

_"But that doesn't explain why his hands were in her shirt."_

_"Think, Angie. If you had been in his position, what would you have done?"_

_"Scream."_

_"When you walked in, Leslie's hand was on his mouth."_

_"…"_

_"Knowing that, what would you do next?"_

_"There isn't anything, Derek's too weak…"_

_"Low blow..."_

_"Whatever..." Angie's logical side said to herself._

_"Idiota, his special skill." Her better (and more blunt) said right back._

_"The Healing Touch? What is that supposed to do?"_

_"Speed, moron."_

_"Ohhh...But...That doesn't explain anything."_

_"You knew him. What does he need to activate it."_

_"He needs to trace a star…His hand!"_

Angie pulled down Leslie's collar. She was too drunk to care.

There, she saw faint red fingernail marks.

In a star.

_"…"_

_"I think you owe him an apology, hmmm?"_

_"…"_

_"Oh please, this is a matter of pride for you?"  
__"Kinda."_

_"Well, you put yourself over your boyfriend. I'll be."_

_"He isn't my boyfriend anymore. I doubt he would want to be mine after what I put him through."_

_"Apologies are welcome to any person who was traumatized the way he was."_

_"Just SHUT up."_

_"Make me."_

_"...FINE. I'll apologize when he comes to work."_

_"Yeah, about that..."_

_"I don't care what you think."_

_"…" _

_But nobody knew that she wouldn't get the chance to apologize tomorrow..._

* * *

_The next day…_

"Heyyy Angie, where's Derek?" Tyler asked her.

"I don't know, I expected him here."

"Call him."

Angie tried three times. There was no reply…

Where Derek was buried, some of the snow shifted as the phone vibrated. Not enough.

_"I wonder where he is?"_

* * *

A week later, there was a missing poster every 100 feet. Caduceus was getting desperate. Their ace surgeon was missing, and no one knew where he was.

However, Derek's phone was kept on, despite its slowly failing battery, and it had vibrated enough to uncover a mysterious object, that Angie didn't notice.

His glasses, invisible in the sunlight, and half-buried in the pale snow.

* * *

CRACK.

Angie had stepped on the bump, not paying attention to where she had been going.

The mound made her nervous, and she avoided it for some reason. It was creepy.

_"But crack? What the hell?"_

Angie glanced down. Glass. So what?

That glass hadn't been there before.

_"Probably some alcoholic teenager," _Angie mused.

But then she noticed something else.

A thin, brown wire frame, bent into a U.

_"What is that?"_

_"Wait...are those...glasses?"_

Suddenly, she realized why they were so familiar.

She had last seen those glasses…

On Derek Stiles' head.

"Derek!?"

She dug into the snow, and came face-to-face with Derek, for the first time in a month.

A tear slid down her face.

"Derek...Derek...wake up…"

He did not wake up.

* * *

_"I'm sorry, Derek. Sorry I didn't have more faith in you. Sorry I didn't believe in you. Sorry, for not being there when you needed me most."_

_-blood splatter-_

~~~Author's Notes~~~

This was actually a big revision. Took an hour. But not what I'd like it to be, anyways.


	2. Burning Resolve

~~~Bonus Chapter~~~Burning Resolve~~~

Shaking and in tears, Angie collapsed to the ground. She knew what she had done. There was no going back.

The question is, what was she going to do about it?

-X-X-X-X-X-

Turning towards her house, she examined the trail of heartbreak that led to her home.

The dried bloodstains under the snow had long been buried, and Angie felt no need to see them. The stairs, however, showed a different tale.

The rightmost banister had a inconspicuous coloring on its sharper side. The bloodstain matched the coloring of the wood almost perfectly, which was why she hadn't noticed it. The blood had dripped down towards...

Angie brushed off the light frosting of snow that had been carried there by the night breeze. There. A puddle of brown that didn't match the rest of the wood.

A trace of brown peeking out from the snow caught her eye. Crouching down, she scooped away the snow surrounding it to reveal the far edge of the third step. She shuddered.

A larger streak of dried blood was spread over most of this step.

She stood, brushing herself off, and walked toward the door. It was a brand new door, replacing the door with the shattered lock. Something, however, told her to save it, to hold on to it, and it was in her basement with the rest of the bolt.

She hadn't really thought much about why the lock had broken so easily, but now, as she walked down the stairs, she realized that the stupid bolt could have decided life or death.

Her mind was moving a million miles per hour, not typical of the situation. Shouldn't her brain be in limbo, frozen after the shock she had so unwillingly received? Actually, now that she thought about it, why was she so calm about this? In better times, she had visualized herself throwing herself over his pale body, sobbing for him to come back. But, besides her initial panic, there was nothing now. Only a desperate need to know why this had happened.

Arriving at the door, she knelt down to examine the lock. At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

But at closer examination, she saw the reason the lock had given in so quickly.

The middle of the lock was destroyed by rust. Angie instinctively knew that this hadn't been the result of a week in the basement. This had been growing for a long time. With only a thin strip of corroded metal guarding the door, no wonder it had shattered so easily.

Something in her snapped. All of this...could have been stopped by her replacing the stupid bolt?

In pure anger, she kicked her foot at the door. The wood splintered, and she cut her leg open.

Angie cursed.

"_SON OF A BITCH!"_

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

After bandaging her cuts, she sat on her bed, and sobbed.

"_WhywhywhywhywhywhyWHY?"_

Who could argue that she didn't have the right to cry? Having someone die by your hands was one thing, killing your own boyfriend was another.

When she was done, she remained in her position, not really looking at anything in particular, contemplating the events that had led to this.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-

_She had walked into the on-call room, because Derek was supposed to be waiting there. Instead, she had found the man in question making out with Leslie._

_Angie had screamed some very inappropriate words before running out in tears. She heard Derek's footsteps coming after her._

"_Why is he chasing me? What does he want? To apologize? I don't want his apology!"_

_Her better side had disagreed._

"_We should at least hear him out-what if this is a misunderstanding?_

_Angie gave her better side a few seconds to think about what she had just said._

"_Okay, maybe not, but still…"_

_Angie rolled her eyes, which was a new experience-rolling your eyes to yourself while crying and running was hard._

_She whipped out her car keys from her purse and stepped into her car. When she paused for a second to fumble for the ignition slot, and to wipe her eyes, Derek caught up to her. He tapped on the car window, mouthing "Angie! Wait!"_

_In response, she drove away, hoping to God she wouldn't crash on the icy road._

_-X-X-X-X-X-X-_

_At her house, which was only half a mile away from Caduceus, she had relaxed._

"_It's hot in here…" She opened the windows. She would have preferred AC but hers was broken._

_She began crying to herself again, when she heard footsteps, and the thump of a body hitting the ground._

_Opening her eyes, she saw Derek on her floor, IN HER HOUSE, covered in snow._

"_Derek? What the hell? Get out!"_

_A brief argument had ensured, with Angie getting more and more frustrated. She had pushed him out of her door, listening to several thumps and cries of pain before slamming the door._

_A few minutes later, she collapsed as she was attacked by her memories of Derek._

_She had woken up some time later, going to Derek's apartment to do...what, exactly? Check up on him? Bitch at him some more? Angie wasn't sure, and definitely not composed at all, which is why she had been somewhat relieved to learn that Derek's lease had been canceled. Not giving it much more thought, she had driven to a drunken Leslie's house, where she had learned that 1) She had not seen Derek, and 2) Derek had not willingly made out with Leslie._

_As it had turned out, no one had seen Derek for a week. Part of the reason was that he was buried under a pile of snow in front of Angie's house._

_Further investigation revealed that Angie had, indeed, been the reason for Derek's death._

_-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-_

Angie sat up as the world seemed to recede around her. There was only one way, she realized, to resolve this conflict and to make peace.

She began to plot her own death.

~~~Author's Notes~~~

Dark? I believe that this is some of my best work. Please review, I NEED constructive criticism.


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